Read Online Running with the Pack: Cannon Pack, Book 3 by Beverly Rae - Free Book Online Page A

name or anything. Why are you acting so strange?” Had she said too much? No way would she tell him that her new patient was a shifter. Hell, she wished she’d kept quiet now.
    “Is your patient a werewolf?”
    Her breath hitched in her throat. “No. Of course not. Why?”
    John’s relief was evident in the tension flowing out of his body. “Good. There’s a large shifter pack with alphas named Cannon. You’ve probably heard me mention them before.”
    Crap. Now she remembered where she’d heard the name. “Wow. Alphas, huh? More than one?”
    “Yeah. Word has it that three brothers run the pack.” John shrugged off his brusque attitude and returned to his normal demeanor, reassured that her patient wasn’t a shifter. “So, you got a new victim, huh? Business must be good.” John chuckled. “I don’t know how you could do that.”
    She tensed. Had someone other than Bobbie and Tucker seen them and told John? “What do you mean? I haven’t done anything—” She snapped her mouth closed, keeping “wrong” locked inside. Playing tongue-tag with another man was wrong. But playing Show and Feel with a werewolf was the ultimate betrayal to a hunter. Although she planned on dumping John, she had to keep playing the part of the faithful girlfriend for as long as she could. How else could she repay her debt to the werewolf she’d killed? “What are you talking about?”
    “I’m talking about poking into people’s mouths and messing with their teeth. Sheesh. I don’t know how you do it. It’s disgusting.”
    Relief washed over her, making her miss her footing. She fell into step behind him along with the other hunters and tried not to take what he’d said as a dig.
    John held up his fist, signaling a full stop. He glanced around, his eyes scanning the dark alley. Throwing them a wicked grin, he put a finger to his lips and motioned for them to follow him.
    Lauren dropped to the back of the group and switched her gun’s safety to the off position. If she had to, she could cause a diversion from the rear easier than in the front of the group. Halfway through the alley, John went down on one knee, waited for them to do the same, then pointed to a dark corner where one building met another. She squinted into the blackness and hoped she wouldn’t see what she feared most.
    A small werewolf bent over the prone body of a homeless man. The man, wearing rags and shoes with holes in the bottoms, was either asleep or unconscious. His hand, however, firmly clutched an empty whiskey bottle.
    The poor man had no idea that a werewolf stood over him. Could she wake the man up without scaring the werewolf into biting him? If so, would John and the other hunters hold their fire to keep from hitting the man?Inching forward, she touched John’s shoulder to warn him against shooting while an innocent human was in the line of fire, but she was too late. A shot blasted the silence apart, jolting her and sending her stumbling to the side.
    The werewolf’s screech of pain echoed around the alley. Wounded, the shifter landed on its feet but couldn’t stand. Blood ran down its hind leg. The werewolf tried to stumble away, but lost its footing and slumped to the ground.
    “Gah! What the fuck is this? Help! Someone get this thing away from me!” The man dropped his bottle to scuttle away from the growling creature. The other men rushed to John, cheering and slapping him on the back. Two hunters helped the man to his feet and retrieved his bottle, then led him down the alley toward the street. Pointing his rifle at the snarling werewolf, John stood back, his chest out and pride oozing from him. “Say nighty-night, shifter.”
    Lauren slowly regained her feet, tears stinging the backs of her eyes. Why couldn’t she have acted faster? Disappointment mingled with guilt, tearing a hole in her stomach. But now was not the time to wallow in her feelings. She gritted her teeth and took a few steps toward the sickening scene and the